“I’ll go grab some,” Euan said, as he turned toward the door. “In the meantime, we better figure out what our next move is.”
“He’s right,” Trent said, as Euan shut the door behind him. “As much as I hate to say it, we can’t afford to sit here playing doting new parents. We need to find that last egg and then get out of here. And you guys need to take these guys back to Tahnee’s.”
“Not until we’ve helped you guys first,” Rhys said firmly. “From what you said, there’s a ton of Hargreaves guys on your tail, and you have some searching to do, and no idea how much area you have to cover. That’ll take more than just the two of you.”
As reluctant as she was to admit it, Zina knew Rhys had a point there. She ran her fingers gently over Quicksilver’s long, sleek body, as Dusty and Goldiechirrup!ed andbirrup!ed at her side, clearly still curious about it. Unlike with Dusty and Goldie, Zina didn’t get much sense of Quicksilver’s gender – it simply seemed to be itself.
“You’ll have a delicious snack of rocks soon,” she soothed it, as it wriggled around in her lap, trying to get comfy. “I didn’t see any huge teeth when you yawned, though. Maybe you can just eat tiny pebbles for now?” Pulling her attention away from Quicksilver, as difficult as that was, she looked up at Trent, Rhys and Hector. “I wasn’t able to get much information about where exactly Hargreaves had narrowed its search area to, except that it was this mining settlement. If I’d had even a couple of extra days, I might’ve been able to find out more, but I think they were already starting to cotton on that someone was digging around in their systems, so then it was only a matter of time until they figured out it was me. I had to make my move and get the eggs out right away.”
“So… you’re saying that if you could get back into their systems now, you might be able to find out more?” Hector asked.
Zina nodded. “Probably – well,possibly.Hargreaves’s systems are tricky, but I have insider knowledge. I mean, theyprobablyhaven’t had time to change everything yet since I last managed to get in. I’d have a shot, anyway. Hacking and digital espionageismy area.”
“If that’s the case, we have tech,” Hector said. “We brought some stuff with us to keep in touch, covertly, with Robb at headquarters. If you can use that, you’re welcome to give it a go.”
Zina’s heart leapt in her chest. If she could get back into Hargreaves’s systems – which she wasn’t sure shecould, but it was worth trying – then she might be able to give them a leg up in their search.
“I can try, at least,” she said, just as Euan reappeared, a variety of rocks and concrete in his massive hands.
“All right,” he said, as he kicked the door closed gently behind him. “I got a selection. Just in case it has preferences.”
He spread the rocks out on the floor, and Quicksilver raised its head, sniffing. After a moment, it jumped up, shuffling its way over to the rocks for a closer look. After taking a few moments to make its choice, it opened its jaws wide, and a series of long, silvery teeth unsheathed themselves from its gums, which it immediately used to start chewing with gusto on the nearest stone, a nondescript gray lump of rock.
“It seems to like it,” Trent said, smiling. “I guess it won’t be too expensive to feed – we can just get a bag of gravel for it to snack on.”
“Well, while it’s eating, I’ll go get our gear,” Rhys said, heading for the door. “And hopefully, we can get in and out of here as quickly and quietly as possible.”
“That’d be for the best,” Zina agreed. She scarcely dared to hope it’d be that easy – in fact, now that her antelope was back, she had a distinctlyuneasy feeling.
There is some danger here,her antelope said to her, ears twitching.Something lurking. But I cannot tell what…
Zina drew in a deep breath.
You’re probably right,she told it.But for now, we can only keep going. I can’t leave that egg for Hargreaves to find. We’ll just have to be as careful as we can.
But try as she might, Zina couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss. She just wasn’t sure she had the time to try to figure out what.
Chapter 15
Though Trent had seen Zina get through Equitix’s digital lock three years ago in London like it wasn’t even there, he’d never really seen herworkbefore – not with this kind of intense focus. Her fingers flew over the keyboard of the laptop Rhys had brought up from their truck, her eyes intent on the screen, barely even blinking.
Trent had some experience with codebreaking, and of course he could do some very simple hacking – but not like this. Zina was rattling off keyboard commands like it was nothing, and Trent watched as a stream of data overflowed from the screen of the laptop she was using and onto the screen of the one she had hooked up next to it – thankfully, Hector, Rhys and Euan had come prepared.
“So where’s Callan and Brooke?” Trent said softly to Hector as they watched Zina work. “I just assumed they were staking out the back entrance of the pub in case I got away from you.”
Hector shook his head. “Nah. Three of us going missing – or four, rather, with you – was about as much as Robb could cover for. Callan and Brooke are holding up the fort back home. Pretending like everything’s normal and we’re just out getting pies or on an extra-long smoko or something.”
He’d have to remember to thank them when he got back, Trent thought – well, and Hector, Rhys and Euan too, for coming all the way out here to find him.
“You don’t smoke, though,” he pointed out, as Zina did some more machine-gun-fast typing.
“I could take it up, with the amount of stress you’ve put me through,” Hector retorted. “I couldn’t believe it when Robb said you’d gone haring off on your own without so much as a by-your-leave. What the hell were you even thinking?”
“All right, all right,” Trent muttered. “Don’t you think I’ve gotten enough grief for now?”
“Not really,” Hector said, just as Zina glanced over her shoulder at them, eyebrows knitted together.
“Hey, I’m trying to concentrate here.”
